Innocence Lost
by Our Eleventh Hour
Summary: Sam & Dean have 2 brothers: Mark & Andy. Sam is unaware of the supernatural...until a supernatural creature is after him. Can his family save him in time? Or is it too late? Sam-4; Dean-8; Andy-9; Mark-10. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Yet another 'what if' universe. What if there were **_**four**_** Winchester brothers? Mark, Andy, Dean, and Sam Winchester. And of course their father, John. Throw in some Caleb, Bobby, and Pastor Jim. **

"Don't even think about it, Samuel." Pastor Jim Murphy warned in a somewhat stern tone. The four year old sheepishly took a step away from the wall. He looked down at the blue crayon in his hand.

"Sorry Pastor Jim." Sam apologized softly, looking up at the older man with big, innocent puppy dog eyes.

Jim nodded, "It's alright my boy. Just stick to coloring on paper. Now, where are your brothers?"

Sam looked back down at the ground as he answered, "They're playin' outside."

"How about you go join them?" Jim suggested curiously. Usually the Winchester boys couldn't be separated. They argued, of course, but what family didn't? Despite the age differences, the three oldest Winchester sons rarely excluded their baby brother.

The four year old looked up at the pastor and shook his head, "Can't. They're playin' with Daddy."

Realization dawned on him then. Now he knew why Sam couldn't play with his brothers, not that they were really playing. John was training with his older sons. Many of John's hunter friends agreed with the idea of the boys training and joining John on hunts, but it wasn't their call. Jim had repeatedly attempted to talk John Winchester out of letting his sons tag along, but John wouldn't hear of it.

"Why don't you go ask your dad if your brothers can play with you?" Jim suggested, hoping John would release Mark, Andy, and Dean from training. Sam smiled and hurried out of the living room, through the front door, and into the front yard.

Jim Murphy lived in Blue Earth, Minnesota, in a cabin in the woods. Every year Jim invited the Winchester, Caleb Johnson, and Bobby Singer over to Blue Earth to just take a break from hunting. They usually stayed for about a week before returning to the world of the supernatural. John, Mark, Andy, Dean, and Sam had arrived in Blue Earth a day early, surprising the pastor. Most of the time they were a day late.

Sam made his way off the front porch and onto the crunchy gravel that made up Pastor Jim's driveway. He walked past the Impala and past Jim's truck. Finally, he found his family. Mark and Andy were throwing punches at each other, Dean was sitting on the ground watching them with an annoyed expression, and John was critically eyeing his two sons. Sam ran over to Dean and sat beside him.

"Hey Sammy," the eight year old greeted, playfully knocking into his younger brother.

"Hi Deanie!" Sam smiled as he shoved the older boy, though it didn't work out as well as he had wanted it to. Being four years old, Dean had a height advantage and weighed more than Sam. "Can you guys come play yet?"

Dean sighed; his dad was not going to be happy about Sam interrupting the training session. A few times Sam had asked if he could train with his brothers, but John had told him 'No.' Which in some cases caused the youngest Winchester to cry and hide under the nearest bed for an hour, and in other cases Sam just shrugged and walked away. Secretly, Dean was glad his father refused to let Sam train with them. Sam was only four years old for cryin' out loud! Dean and the other hunters wanted to keep Sam in the dark, figuratively of course, because the kid was just so innocent. He didn't know about the supernatural, and he didn't need to know for a very long time.

The eight year old was just about to tell his brother that they couldn't play with him yet when he looked at Sam. He looked so hopeful that Dean turned to his dad and asked, "Hey Dad? Can we go now?"

John looked over at his second youngest son with a bit of shock. Usually Dean loved training. He hadn't been on a hunt yet, neither had Andy but Mark had been on a few, but he was excited for it. Then John saw Sammy, looking at his father with a pleading expression. His defense crumbled and he nodded, "Mark, Andy, you boys can go now. Good job."

The two older sons froze, smiled at the praise, and went to their younger brothers. John returned to the cabin after a quick look around the area, just to make sure his sons were safe.

"So what do you wanna play Sammy?" Mark asked. Mark had shaggy blond hair and dark brown eyes, a mixture of his parents. He was the oldest son at ten years old.

Sam shrugged.

"What about hide and seek?" Andy suggested. The other boys agreed and he went ahead and volunteered to be 'it'.

Andy and Dean looked exactly alike; dark hair and green eyes. People easily confused them as twins and were rudely told that they were a year apart, therefore not twins. Dean grabbed Sam's hand and pulled him up to a standing position as Andy closed his eyes and started counting. Mark made sure his brother was facing away from the house since all the good hiding places were around the house. Mark, Dean, and Sam went in different directions to hide.

Dean crawled under the Impala, then thought better of it. He pulled himself out from under the car and climbed quietly into Jim's truck bed.

Mark made his way around the house to the back yard and ran to one of the many surrounding trees of the woods. But this tree held a tree house Jim had helped him and John build a couple years ago. Mark climbed up the ladder and pulled himself into the tree house.

Sam was having a harder time finding a hiding spot. Mark had already claimed the tree house; he had seen his brother climbing the ladder. Looking around, Sam saw the perfect place. A small brown shed stood not too far from the edge of the woods. The little boy heard Andy shout, "Ready or not, here I come!" Quickly, Sam ran to the shed and pulled the door open.

It was dark, but that would make it harder for Andy to see him. The light from outside allowed Sam to see there was a black tarp in the corner of the room. Glancing over his shoulder, Sam went into the shed and closed the shed door. He made his way to the tarp in the dark and pulled it over his head before sitting down. Sam swallowed a few times. He couldn't even see his hand which he put in front of his face. Maybe he should switch hiding places….

"I know you're in here!" Andy said, opening the shed door. He'd already found Dean and now the younger boy was helping him find Sam and Mark. Dean had told Andy that both Sam and Mark had gone to the back yard.

But so far neither boy had had much luck finding the oldest and youngest brothers. Andy sighed; he'd been expecting someone to just be standing in the shed. Sam was the worst at hide and seek. He usually laughed out or picked horrible places to hide. Then again, Sam was getting older and much better at keeping his laughter under control.

Andy left the shed, closing the door.

Sam let his hands fall from his mouth. He'd been having a hard time keeping his laughter from escaping, but he'd managed to fool his older brother. Smiling to himself, Sam laid down on the floor. He began tapping his fingers on the ground beside him. Boredom was beginning to set in. He'd never had this problem before since he was almost always the first one caught. Suddenly Sam remembered something. His hand went to his pant pocket and pulled out a small flashlight. Andy had given it to Sam last night in the car so they could make shadow puppets in the backseat.

He clicked the light on, thankful that he finally was able to see. Sam made a few shadow puppets that Dean had showed him, but it didn't keep him entertained for long. The four year old pulled the tarp off so that his face was uncovered; it was getting a little hard to breath. Once again he was bored. Before he knew it, Sam was falling asleep.

Outside, Andy saw movement in the window of the tree house. It was fall and the Winchester boys all had long sleeves on. Andy remembered that Mark was wearing a red shirt, so when he saw the flash of red in the window he knew he had Mark.

Smiling, Andy ran to the tree where his brother was and called up, "I see you Mark! Get down here!"

"Crap." Mark replied, exiting the tree house and meeting his brother on the ground.

"Got him Dean!" Andy shouted to his other brother across the yard. Dean ran over towards them and stopped when he reached them.

"Now we just have to find Sammy." Dean said, looking around for his younger brother. "Can't believe he beat us, Mark."

Mark nodded, "I know. He's getting better and better, I guess."

The three boys spread out to find the youngest Winchester. When ten minutes passed and they still hadn't found Sam, they began to worry.

"Where is he?" Mark swallowed. He and his two brothers knew what was out there; they knew what could happen to Sam who was totally unaware of the monsters in the dark.

"Sammy! Sam!" Dean shouted as loud as he could. His stomach was jittery with nerves. Sam was their responsibility… but Mark and Andy weren't the ones who carried Sam out of a burning house. No, that was Dean. He remembered his dad putting baby Sam into his arms and telling him to get out of the house. Mark and Andy were right behind Dean, making sure he got out too. So yeah, Sam was all three of their responsibility but Dean had such a better connection with the youngest Winchester. Anyone with eyes could see that.

Another ten minutes passed and John came out to tell the boys it was time for dinner. Imagine his surprise when he only saw three of four sons. "Where's Sammy?"

Mark, Andy, and Dean shared a look.

"Boys! Where's your brother?" John demanded, anger seeping into his voice.

"We were playing hide and seek." Mark explained. He was the oldest, he should be the one to tell their dad what happened, no matter how mad he was. "And Sam's still playing, Dad. We can't find him _anywhere._"

"Damn it!" John shouted, "Mark, go get Jim. Tell him what happened. Andy, Dean, both of you with me and tell me everything else." He ordered his three sons. Mark ran to the cabin as John led Dean and Andy around the backyard since that was the place they thought the youngest Winchester was.

"I was counting and Dean said he saw Sammy and Mark go to the backyard." Andy informed his father, "I found Dean then we found Mark in the tree house. We've looked everywhere."

"Obviously not since Sam's still missing." John retorted. Andy visibly winced. Jim and Mark soon joined them.

They spent another fifteen minutes searching for the missing boy when Caleb arrived. His dark blue truck was just as loud as the Impala, maybe louder. So when he pulled in, everyone knew it. Dean met him in the driveway and explained what was going on. When the two returned to the backyard, they were shocked to find John fiercely hugging Sam who looked just plain confused.

"God, we were so worried about you." John said into his youngest son's hair.

"What happened?" Dean asked Pastor Jim.

Jim answered, "After you ran to the front yard to greet Caleb, the shed door opened and out came your brother. Asked if Caleb was here yet."

John finally released Sam, who still looked puzzled. "Samuel Jonathan Winchester, _what_ do you think you were doing? We've all been looking for you!"

"Sorry Daddy." Sam replied, "We were playing hide and seek-"

"I know what you were doing!" John shouted, crossing his arms. "I wanna know why the hell you didn't come out when we called for you."

Sam swallowed, "I didn't hear you."

The father raised his eyebrows, "You didn't hear us? Sam, we shouted several times."

"You'd think he would have heard your loud voice, John." Caleb attempted to lighten the mood. He easily gave up on that strategy when John sent him a murderous glare. "Sorry, sir."

"I didn't hear you." Sam repeated, shrugging. He didn't see the flash of anger that went through John's face.

"Sam, we thought something took you." Andy said before he realized what he was saying. "I mean-"

"Pastor Jim told me there weren't no bears here, Andy." Sam rolled his eyes. "Right?" he turned his gaze to the pastor.

Jim nodded, "Right, Sammy. But they weren't talking about bears."

"Jim-"John started but Jim went on as if he hadn't heard him.

"They mean the lions."

Sam's eyes grew wide, "There are lions in the woods?"

"Mountain lions, Sam." Dean nodded, rolling with the pastor's idea. "And they eat people." So technically they weren't lying to the four year old. Mountain lions _do _live in the woods…maybe not in this area of Minnesota, though. And they _do_ eat people.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that there were mountain lions." Sam apologized softly.

John inwardly sighed, that was a close one. He thanked God Sam easily believed almost anything. There was that childish innocence again, something he was trying so hard to keep in his youngest son.

"Well, dinner's getting cold boys." Jim said, breaking a short silence.

The men and the boys went back to the cabin, the night's scare already starting to fade from their minds.


	2. Chapter 2

**This story got a lot of positive response! Sorry it's taken me a bit to get this up; I actually went through and made notes in a program so I've got half the story planned out, the characters mapped, and so on. Even a few ideas for a sequel…but I'm getting ahead of myself here!**

The next day, Bobby Singer arrived at the cabin early in the morning. When Jim opened the front door for him, the man was still in his night clothes and it was only six a.m. Jim led Bobby to one of the guest rooms and let him put down his bag before the two friends quietly went into the kitchen for some coffee.

Jim's cabin had four bedrooms, which was just enough. There was a room for Jim since he lived there, one for John and Caleb to share with two twin beds, one for Bobby because it was a smaller room that could only fit one bed, and a room with two bunk beds for the Winchester boys to share. Mark and Andy were on the top beds while Dean and Sam were on bottom so Sam could have easy access to Dean in case of a bad dream.

"Any trouble getting here, Bobby?" Jim asked as he poured his old friend a cup of coffee. Bobby gratefully took the cup and shook his head.

"Nah, that's why I like to leave early, so I don't have to worry about trouble."

"Thought I heard old bones cracking." Caleb said somewhat quietly, stretching his arms as he went into the kitchen. "Good to see you Bobby."

Bobby pierced him with a half-hearted glare, "Making old jokes again, Caleb?"

"Me?" Caleb asked, acting insulted, "Bobby…that hurts."

The two older hunters rolled their eyes as Caleb joined them at the table, getting himself some coffee. Together, the three hunters joked and talked for another half hour before John was up. He had awoken when Caleb got up, but wanted to attempt sleep for just a little longer. John had already been woken by the sounds from the room next door. The walls in Jim's cabin were thin and John had the bed beside the wall where his sons slept. By the sounds of it, Sam had had a nightmare.

Nightmares for Sam weren't uncommon. They were more graphic, more realistic than the average nightmare. The first nightmare John remembered his youngest son having had made him age ten years. He'd heard Sam scream his head off and John feared the worst when he got up from the living room couch and ran into his sons' room. At the time John was renting a small one bedroom house and his sons were young enough where they had no problem sharing one big bed. But when John had reached the room, his three oldest boys were comforting the toddler. He'd gone into the room anyway; wanting to make sure it was just a bad dream.

So when John heard the sound of a yelp and then low talking, he knew Dean was already taking care of Sam. Dean was the only one who could calm Sam down while the four year old was in the middle of a nightmare. The two had always shared some sort of connection that no one understood. Dean knew Sam better than Sam knew himself. He could pick out the lies from the truths, could tell when Sam was upset. And they were still kids. When they were older…that bond would be so much stronger.

John greeted his fellow hunters and friends, joining them at the kitchen table.

"Sam have a nightmare?" Caleb asked, already knowing the answer.

The father nodded, "I'm guessing you heard him through the walls."

"Poor Squirt."

About an hour later, John went to go get his boys up. He walked down the hallway and to the boys' bedroom. Pushing open the door he rolled his eyes. His sons had always had strange sleeping habits. Mark kicked in his sleep and no matter how many times John would put the blankets back on the boy, he would just kick them off again. So John wasn't surprised to see Mark's pile of blankets on the floor. Andy talked in his sleep and occasionally sleep walked. The others would definitely have some blackmail on the kid in years to come. Dean's position depended on whether or not Sam was with him. If he was by himself, Dean would go to sleep in one position and wake up the next morning in the exact same place. But if Sam was with him, Dean's arm would find its way across his younger brother's body protectively. Sam slept curled into a ball unless he was in the middle of a nightmare.

"Boys." John said, hating to wake them up on their 'vacation' from hunting. Andy awoke instantly.

"Hm?" he said, a bit confused but quickly realized where he was.

"Come on guys, get up!" John ordered, going into the room. Each of the beds had blue blankets and one pillow, except in Sam and Dean's case where Sam had pulled his pillow onto his brother's bed. A small closet was placed in the back corner which held the boys' duffel bags and a box of toys Jim had collected over the years. John gently shook Mark, then Dean, and finally Sam.

"We're up." Dean said, closing his eyes again. Inwardly John sighed. If Dean was this hard to get up now, what was he going to be like as a teenager?

"We're up Dad." Mark said, yawning as he sat up.

Sam rubbed his eyes as he too pulled himself into a sitting position. Without hesitating he crawled over his brother and left the bed. Dean physically winced as his brother climbed over him, the four year old's weight on his stomach was all Dean needed to wake him up.

"Come on, Jim and Bobby made breakfast." John stated, hoping food would bribe them better.

"Uncle Bobby's here?" the youngest Winchester asked with another yawn. John nodded and Sam headed for the door.

"Put some pants on Sammy. Pastor Jim won't let you eat unless you're dressed." Dean reminded the younger boy. Sam made a frustrated sound and went to the closet. While John and Andy wore pajama pants and t-shirts, Mark, Dean, and Sammy slept in boxers and a t-shirt. The last time the boys had stayed at Jim Murphy's cabin, he told them pants and shirts were required at the table.

Once Sam had pants on, Mark and Dean retrieved pants from their own bags. Jim did allow pajama pants, so Andy was set in their pajamas. John left the room while two of his sons finished getting dressed and the other two followed him to the kitchen.

"Hi Uncle Bobby!" Sam greeted cheerfully when he saw the gruff hunter.

"Hey Sammy, how are ya'?" Bobby returned with a smile as Sam pulled himself up onto one of the many chairs.

"Good."

"Mornin' Andy."

"Morning." Andy told him, sitting between his brother and father. Soon the group was joined by Mark and Dean, who took seats beside Sam and Caleb.

Once breakfast was over, John and Jim did the dishes while the others went into the living room.

Caleb left to his room and returned with a pack of cards. "Anyone up for a game?"

"I am! I am!" Sam half-shouted energetically. Bobby laughed, wishing he had that kind of energy to waste.

"I'm in." Andy nodded. Dean, Mark, and Bobby all agreed and soon a game of 'Slap –Jack' was started.

"Ow!" Andy exclaimed when Mark's hand hit his.

"Sorry." Mark apologized with a grin, "Ya' know if you didn't stick your hand out there I wouldn't have hit it."

"I'd also be losing, too."

Not too long after the first couple of games, John and Jim joined them in the living room. The older men suggested playing poker, which had all four of the Winchester boys eager to learn how to play. So, the four grown men began showing the boys how to play poker.

Sam quickly lost interest in the game. The rules didn't make much sense and he couldn't understand what a good hand was. He left the game to the others and went to find something else to do.

His first stop was the toy box in the closet. There were Lego's, army men, and other random toys. None of these held Sam's attention for long, though. Then he saw a worn box of crayons. Sam grabbed the little box and ran into the living room before requesting a piece of paper from Pastor Jim.

Once the youngest Winchester had his paper and crayons, he went to the corner of the living room and spread out on the wood floor. Several minutes passed and Sam just couldn't figure out what he wanted to draw. There were a ton of options, but none of them appealed to him. There were dogs, tigers, trees, houses, and recently his brothers were helping him with the alphabet. He knew 'S', 'A', 'M', and 'Y'. But for some reason his 'M's ran together so they just looked like a bunch of mountains. The sound of laughter drew his attention to the card game.

**I actually re-wrote the ending about three times. In the original ending Caleb was going to take the boys on a walk through the woods. But then I realized a four year old probably doesn't have much interest in poker. Then Sam played with the Lego's but then an idea with coloring came to my head.**


	3. Chapter 3

Alright, here's the next chapter!

For the rest of their visit at Jim's cabin, Sam worked on his picture whenever he could. He managed to finish it the night before the annual trip was over.

Holding the picture at arm's length, Sam felt pretty impressed with himself. His people were all stick people, but they were nowhere as good as Mark's drawings. Mark drew pictures of everything, and he was good at it too. He drew people and animals all the time.

The youngest Winchester ran from the living room and into the kitchen where his father was talking to Bobby.

"Look what I drawed!" Sam said cheerfully, showing the picture to his uncle and his dad.

There were eight stick people in a line on the page with smiles on their faces. Sam pointed each stick out and told the two men who was who. The person with the green hat was Uncle Bobby. Beside him was Pastor Jim, wearing a big cross necklace. Caleb was next with blond hair. Next was John with a small black car under his feet. Then there was Mark with a giant pencil in his hands. Beside Mark was Andy with a big brown dog. John winced slightly at the dog. A few months ago Andy had grown attached to a dog and had been devastated when John said he couldn't keep it. Next to the dog was Dean with the spiky black hair. And finally there was Sam.

John smiled at the picture and said, "This is very good, Sammy."

"I like how everyone's different colors." Bobby added. And the statement was true; each person was a different color.

"You can have it Daddy." Sam smiled, giving the drawing to his father and leaving the room. John folded the paper up and stuck it in his wallet.

The next morning, the Winchesters were loaded into the Impala by eight a.m. They said their goodbyes to Caleb, Bobby, and Pastor Jim, hoping they might be around near Christmas. Since Sam was still young, John usually tried to settle down at Bobby's or at least find a hunt close to South Dakota during Christmas.

"So where we heading?" Mark asked his father, turning his head to face him. Because Mark was the oldest, he rode shotgun while his brothers rode in the backseat.

John's eyes darted to the rearview mirror and saw Sam was sleeping, so he figured it was safe to tell his oldest boys what was going on. "Three deaths in the past two months that fall on full moons."

"Werewolf?" Andy raised an eyebrow.

"That's what I'm thinking." John nodded, "It's happening in Tennessee, so we've got a bit of a drive ahead of us."

It was a long drive and was made even longer by four arguing boys.

"Yes, they are!" Sam insisted.

Dean rolled his eyes, "No, they're not Sammy."

"I'm with Sammy on this one Dean." Andy laughed.

Mark shook his head, turning around in his seat so he could face his brothers, "They're disgusting."

"Dude! They're made of the same stuff."

"Nu uh. Gummy worms are made of better stuff than gummy bears." Dean contradicted.

John counted to five and ordered, "Quit arguing, boys." Mark quickly turned back to face the front.

That killed the disagreement for about thirty seconds. Then Sam kicked the back of Mark's seat. Mark ignored it the first few times, but on the fifth time he had had enough. "Sammy! Stop it!" But the little boy just continued to kick his brother's seat. "Sam!"

"What?" Sam replied innocently.

"Leave him alone, Sammy." John warned his youngest, keeping his gaze on the road in front of him. Sam placed one more kick to Mark's seat and John heard an annoyed groan from his oldest. "Samuel!"

"Sorry." He shrugged in response. As he stared at his youngest son in the rearview mirror he caught Dean laughing quietly. Dean looked at his dad in through the mirror and instantly stopped laughing and turned to look out the window. John thought that that was a smart move on Dean's part.

Returning his eyes to the interstate, John sighed and turned on the radio.

Dean was the first to spot the signs of his little brother's dilemma. Sam began bouncing his knee up and down, up and down. Then the four year old looked out the window for some sort of gas station. When he didn't find one, Dean rolled his eyes and said, "Dad, Sammy has to use the bathroom."

"Didn't you go before we left?" John questioned.

Sam shook his head.

Sighing, John said, "Well you're gonna have to wait until we come up to a gas station. Care to tell me why you didn't go when we left Pastor Jim's?"

The four year old shrugged, "I didn't have to go then."

"That was an hour ago, Sammy." Andy looked over at him. Dean was stuck in the middle while his brothers got the window seats. On most trips Sam was in the middle, but Dean thought his brother was using the bathroom so he was going to reward him with the window seat.

Ten minutes passed and they still hadn't found a gas station.

"Daddy!" Sam started.

"I know Sam, I know." John replied. Finally, he found a sign that told him a gas station exit was up ahead. He pulled the Impala off the interstate and drove to the closest gas station. "Mark go pay for gas. Dean take your brother to the bathroom." John ordered, handing Mark money for gas as Sam all but bolted out of the car, leaving Dean to catch up with him.

Once John had filled the tank up with gas, Mark had returned, and Sam and Dean came back from the bathroom, the Winchesters were on the road again.

They only had to stop one night at a motel because John just couldn't drive any more without falling asleep. He couldn't wait until his boys started driving; they'd reach their destinations much faster. The following day they arrived in Turtletown, Tennessee.

"Turtletown? Seriously?" Dean scoffed as they walked into the motel room they were staying in.

The room wasn't the worst room the Winchesters had stayed in, but it sure wasn't the best. The carpet was brown like the walls and it had several stains. The beds were cheap fabric designs and scratchy. Sam and Dean claimed the bed furthest away from the door while Andy and Mark had the one closest. John pulled an old army cot off of the weapon container in the trunk of the Impala and carried it into the motel. He set it up close to the door, just in case. Next he salted the only window and the door.

Once he was sure everything was set up and safe, John gave Mark twenty dollars for food. Mark was the one in charge of feeding his younger siblings when their dad was interviewing people, researching, and/or killing things. And when Mark occasionally accompanied John, Andy was in charge. But Mark knew he wasn't going on this hunt since his father had given him the money.

"I'll be back later tonight, boys. Mark's in charge. Don't open the door for anyone except a pizza guy but make sure it is the pizza guy, don't leave the room, and watch Sammy." John listed off the rules. They all knew what would happen if you broke one of John Winchester's rules. Well, Mark, Andy, and Dean would end up with extra training while Sam would either get yelled at or receive multiple swats on the backside.

"Bye Dad!" four voices said in unison as John grabbed his journal and left the room, locking the door behind him.

Sam slid off his shoes and kicked them under his and Dean's bed. Andy grabbed the remote and switched on the television. After clicking through the limited amount of channels, he settled on some cartoon that captured his baby brother's interest.

"Do you guys hafta go to school tomorrow?" Sam asked a little while later.

Dean shook his head, "We shouldn't be here that long Sammy. Dad's job shouldn't take more than a couple days so there's no point in getting us enrolled."

The four year old accepted the answer instantly, still under the impression his brothers and father knew everything and were never wrong.

It wasn't long before the boys began getting hungry. Mark found a phonebook in one of the nightstand drawers and called the local pizza place. They almost always got cheese pizza because that's all that Andy liked. He said adding on toppings 'killed the pizza'.

They had to wait forty-five minutes for the pizza and when it did show up, Mark answered the door with Andy holding a gun just out of sight of the man outside. Mark paid for the food and shut the door, relocking it.

The boys ate the pizza hungrily and it was gone not even fifteen minutes after it had been delivered.

Hope you liked this chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it's been a few! Busy with school and working on an update for 'Life With The Marauders'.**

"Find them?" Mark asked his four year old brother as he exited the bathroom. Sam shook his head in response. Holding back a sigh, Mark said, "Well keep looking, Sammy. They've got to be here _somewhere_. Dean, are you packed yet?"

"Almost." Dean replied, stuffing his last article of clothing into his duffel bag and zipping it up. "Done!" he announced.

"Help Sammy find his shoes, please."

Dean rolled his eyes but joined the search for the youngest Winchester's shoes. John had finally finished his hunt three days after first checking into the motel and he had called his sons, ordering them to be ready to leave when he arrived. All the boys knew was their father had caught wind of a hunt a few hours away from where they currently were. As they were packing, Sam realized he couldn't find his shoes.

"Did you check outside?" Andy suggested. When they were at Pastor Jim's the pastor always requested they take their shoes off before entering his home so they wouldn't track mud.

"We haven't left the room, Andy." Mark reminded him as he tossed his duffel bag beside the door. The oldest son then grabbed each of his brothers' bags and put theirs with his.

Dean glanced around the room, watching as his brothers checked out random places; the refrigerator, under the sink, and even in the nightstand drawer. Sam had the tendency to put things in the oddest places and no one was too sure why. "Anyone look under the bed?" Dean questioned his three brothers.

Sam went down to the floor and looked under his and Dean's bed since that was the one he was closest to. Sure enough, there were his worn shoes. "Got 'em!" he cried out, reaching under the bed and grabbing the shoes. As he pulled the shoes towards him, he saw something else. He stuck his hand back under the bed and touched the thing.

With a loud yelp, Sam jerked his hand back and pushed himself up to a standing position before clutching his hand. As soon as his hand had touched the object under the bed, it felt as if a spark had run through his hand and traveled quickly through his body.

"What? What happened?" Dean asked worriedly, pulling his brother away from the bed as Mark got the shotgun that was lying against the wall next to the door. In a swift move, Mark was on the ground aiming the gun under the bed. But, to his surprise all he found was a small toy. Raising an eyebrow, the ten year old took the toy and stood up.

It was an old miniature car. The blue paint was chipped in a few places and a large yellow number two was painted on the roof. There was also a front wheel missing.

"It shocked me." Sam informed them, letting Dean inspect his hand. Finding no injuries on his brother, Dean let Sam's hand go.

Andy gave Sam a quick look over, too, and noticed the boy's feet. "Sammy, you're wearing socks. Remember what happened when we were at Bobby's house last year? We dragged our socks on the carpet in the study? Then we went around touching metal and it shocked us. Same thing."

"Oh…okay." Sam nodded, "Can I have the car?"

Mark shrugged, handing the toy car over to his baby brother. They didn't get to have many toys with them since they moved around so much. The rule was 'If it can't fit in your bag, don't bring it.' Pastor Jim and Bobby had a box or two of toys for them whenever they visited, though. But, it was just one car so Mark didn't see any problem with letting Sam keep the thing. There was definitely enough room for a small car like the one they'd found.

Sam happily played with the miniature car while Mark tied his shoe laces for him and all the way until John unlocked the front door and led them to the Impala.

A few hours later found the Winchesters eating at a cheap diner. Well, everyone but Sam was eating; he was too busy playing with his new toy.

John had noticed his son's occupation with the small car, "Sammy, son, you need to eat."

"Not hungry, Daddy." The small boy replied, eyes not leaving the car that was moving back and forth with the help of his index finger.

"Sam." The warning in the oldest Winchester's tone was clear.

A bit unhappily, Sam removed his finger from the blue car and began eating his hamburger and fries. John gave a quick nod of approval and the family of five continued eating.

Eventually, John pulled the Impala into a parking spot at the Yellow Moon Inn. The duffel bags, an army cot, and the weapons bag was carried inside after John purchased a room. The room had light gray carpeting and two beds. A small TV sat on the opposite wall of the beds. There was also a small table with two chairs. John put the weapons close to the table and glanced at his watch. It was about two in the afternoon, which meant he had plenty of time to research the latest hunt.

"Daddy? When are we gonna go back to Pastor Jim's? Or Uncle Bobby's?" Sam asked his father as he climbed onto one of the beds.

"I dunno, Sammy. Later." John told him. The father wished his boys could have that normal life they somewhat had while at Jim and Bobby's. They didn't have to make new friends since they'd been there several times before. But it was _his_ job to take care of his sons, not Jim's and not Bobby's. He was their father and it was his responsibility. John was relieved when Sammy surprisingly quit questioning him. The hunter raised an eyebrow as he caught his youngest son eying the car strangely.

Throughout the whole trip from the previous motel, Sam had either played with the blue car or looked at it with an inquisitive expression on his face. John honestly couldn't find anything that fascinating about the car. It was some old, cheap toy that the boy had probably picked up somewhere or taken from Jim's house.

"How long are we going to be here, Dad?" Mark asked, pulling John from his thoughts.

"Not sure. I went ahead and put you three in school." He motioned towards Mark, Andy, and Dean. "I'll keep Sammy with me while you're all gone. How's that sound Tiger?"

Sam looked up from the car and gave a quick smile before returning all his attention to the car. Dean rolled his eyes and Andy stifled a laugh. Mark however gave the boy a strange look.

"Are we gonna go to the libery?" Sam inquired the next morning when John dropped his three oldest sons at Hoover's Elementary School.

"We're going to the _library_, son." John corrected with a look through the rear view mirror. Shockingly, Sam wasn't obsessing over the toy…but he did have it clutched in his hand.

"Oh." Sam nodded slowly. "Could you say that again?"

John hid a smile and said, "Library."

"Lie-berry."

"Right."

The conversation died soon afterwards as John drove to the local library. It took him a while to find since he was new to town, but when he did find it he parked as close as he could. He locked the doors to the Impala and grabbed Sam's small hand as they walked across the street. John kept a hold on his son's hand until they were in the reference section. While John searched for the items he needed, Sam sat on the floor and rolled the car around, that odd look on his face.

John quickly found what he was looking for and said, "Alright Sammy, let's go." He led his son to a table in the back of the library and began researching.

By the call he had received from Daniel Elkins earlier, there had been several deaths of children in the area. This was one reason he wanted to keep a close eye on Sam while the others were in school. He wouldn't leave the four year old by himself anyway, but this time he was paying closer attention. And because he was paying more attention to the boy, John saw Sam looked tired. Sure, Sam had nightmares but he fell asleep almost instantly after Dean calmed him down and the nightmares weren't every night but more like every other night. The father made a mental note to ask Dean if Sammy had slept at all last night.

John continued on with his research until it was almost time for him to go and pick up Mark, Andy, and Dean. "Ready to get outta here Sammy?"

Sammy nodded and jumped to his feet from where he was lying on the ground. The hunter noticed Sam did not have his toy car.

"Where's your toy?" John asked as he and Sam exited the library after he had put the books back in their shelves and returned the newspaper clippings.

The four year old replied, "I left it in the car. It was acting weird."

Taking the younger boy's hand John's inner hunter kicked in slightly. "Weird? How?"

Sam shrugged, "It moved."

A warning flag went up in John's head. It _moved_? Most parents would put it off to their child's imagination or maybe even say the child had moved the toy themselves, but most parents weren't hunters like John Winchester. John flash-backed to a month after Mary had died.

He had searched for psychics in the area and came across Missouri Mosley. The African-American woman had told him she felt some sort of negative energy in Sam's nursery in two spots; the area where the crib had been and a corner of the ceiling where John had witnessed his wife burn. Missouri had even made a few cryptic remarks about Sam: 'He's gonna be a strong one.' And 'Sometimes a bad thing can be turned into a good thing, John. Remember that.' John had come across other families where mothers and fathers died in an unexplainable house fire where all the kids were six months old.

The father had reluctantly informed Pastor Jim Murphy about his findings since Missouri had been the one to direct him to the religious man. He had hoped Jim could help him sort it all out. But Jim had had no answers. They'd called Missouri and she told them _something_ had visited the Winchesters November 2, 1983. She wasn't sure _what_ exactly, but something pure evil.

"Daddy…can we go now?" Sam asked, tugging at his father's hand. John shook himself and realized they were at the Impala and Sam was looking up at him innocently.

"Sure, let's go Sammy."

There was no way in hell something 'evil' had gotten in touch with his baby boy.

**Hope you liked this chapter! Don't fret, the supernatural part will come up soon! I'm actually trying to make this a story longer than I usually make my stories.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Saw Season Six premiere…I wasn't too disappointed. Won't say anything that happened in case someone hasn't seen it **** And…**_**here**_** is the next update!**

Since Sam had found his newest toy car, he'd been happy to have it. It was small enough so he could take it with him wherever he went. Plus he didn't have any toys except for at Pastor Jim's and Bobby's. His brothers didn't always want to play with him, but now he had a toy. Then something weird happened.

It _moved _by_ itself._

That part had definitely had Sam confused for a few hours. The car hadn't moved much, just about a foot before it stopped. He'd told Andy, but the older boy didn't seem to care too much. So for the past few days, Sam had been carefully watching the car. If it moved again, he'd show someone. He'd told his dad but he wasn't sure if he believed him or not.

"I should be back in the morning." John said, making Sam look up from the car to his father. His dad glanced at the windows and the door frame, checking the salt. Ever since Sam could remember his family had used salt on the windows and doors. One time he asked why, but Mark told him their family was just—he sounded the word out carefully in his head—_super-stitches, no superstitioun, no superstitious. That one!_

"Lock the door, keep the salt up, watch Sammy." Mark, Andy, and Dean all said in unison. John inwardly rolled his eyes but nodded anyway.

"And if there's any trouble?"

"If someone's bleeding call Jim." Andy stated.

"If someone tries to break in call Caleb or Bobby." Mark recited easily.

"Call Caleb, he's closer this week." John ordered. He knew Caleb was working on a hunt just a few hours away and the younger man always kept his phone on no matter what, but he did put it on vibrate when he was out hunting. "My phone won't be on until I'm done."

"'Kay Dad."

"Bye boys,"

"Bye Dad."

"Bye Dad!"

"Bye Daddy!"

"See ya' Dad."

John grabbed the small bag off the floor that held the materials he would need for the night's hunt. With a small wave to his sons he exited the motel room and shut the door. He waited for the sound of the lock to lock before continuing on his way to the Impala.

_~Innocence Lost~_

The night passed quickly for the Winchester boys. They watched some TV, played a couple games of cards, and then went to bed.

John wasn't home until sometime around three a.m. The hunt had been successful, meaning no one died and the monster was taken care of accordingly. He pulled the motel key out of his pocket and silently put it in the lock so he wouldn't wake his kids. Dean especially was easy to wake up if he heard something. He pushed the door open quickly so the small squeak wouldn't be drawn out. If you opened something slower it just made more noise.

Setting his bag down by the door, John swiftly shut said door. He turned around to check on his sons and saw something flicker. John grabbed the gun from the back of his waistband and turned on the light all in one motion.

The hunter definitely wasn't expecting what he saw. It seemed to be a boy of around eleven or twelve with dark hair and a pale face. The boy had his hand on Sam's forehead. Sam seemed to be in some sort of nightmare; all the signs were there: the soft muttering, the twitching. These were the first signs of Sam's nightmares. John wasn't surprised Dean wasn't awake, though. Dean usually didn't wake until Sam started the third stage of the nightmare, tossing and turning frequently. To make matters worse, the unidentified boy flickered. John quickly pulled the trigger, causing the rock salt to dissipate the young boy. All four Winchester boys moved at the same time. Dean had dragged Sam over to his side of the bed and pulled them both off the bed and onto the carpet while Mark and Andy slid so they were hidden behind their bed like Sam and Dean were.

"What the hell?"Mark half-shouted.

"Watch your language." John said absentmindedly, "Get your things, we're leaving."

All of the boys poked their heads over the two beds to find their father grabbing all the bags he could, putting the gun in his waistband. "That wasn't a suggestion, get a move on boys." He said when his sons didn't move.

"Wha' happened?" Sam yawned as he was pulled into a standing position by Dean. The three older boys were wide awake, but Sam seemed to still be in the process of waking up. Once he'd figured out he and his brothers weren't in danger, his brain had ordered him to go back to sleep.

"We'll talk about it later, Sammy." Dean answered, gently pulling Sam towards the front door since their dad had grabbed his and Sam's bag. John had known Dean would be dealing with the half-asleep four year old so he took pity on him and carried their bags along with his own things.

No more than ten minutes later, the Winchesters gave the motel room a last glance over and left. John didn't even worry about checking them out of the place, he wanted as far away as he could get at the moment. After everything was in the Impala, including his sons, John climbed into the driver's seat and put the car in reverse. The moments of adrenaline were starting to wear off now as he drove towards the interstate.

That spirit had been in his sons' motel room when they were sleeping…and he hadn't been there to protect them. Sure, Mark, Andy, and Dean all knew how to aim and shoot the two guns he always left them. But this was different. They'd been sleeping and completely unaware that something was in the room. He ran a hand over his face.

"Dad?" Andy asked the unvoiced question the three conscious brothers were thinking. Sam had fallen asleep almost as soon as he'd been led to the Impala. The four year old was lying on the seat with his legs in Dean's lap and his head on the seat.

John debated on informing his children on what'd happened. Since Sam was sleeping, he wouldn't find out anything. If Mark, Andy, and Dean knew the dangers they'd be better informed and therefore much more careful. "When I came home there was a spirit in the room. I'm gonna take you guys to Caleb then come back and deal with it." He paused for a minute and realized he should probably call Caleb. "Shit." He muttered, searching for a gas station so he could get to a payphone. Eventually he was able to get to a payphone and call Caleb Johnson.

"Yeah?" the familiar voice of Caleb said, sounding as if he'd just been sleeping. John checked his watch to find it was only two in the morning.

"Caleb, it's John Winchester."

"God, you do know it's two a.m., right Winchester?"

"Yeah, I do. Listen, I need to drop the boys off for a day." He looked around to make sure he was alone and added, "I just shot a ghost in the motel room, Caleb."

Caleb quickly gave John directions, telling him he'd watch the brothers as long as needed. Mark, Andy, Dean, and Sammy especially were weaknesses to anyone who knew them.

John was back in the car and driving towards Caleb within moments of hanging up the phone with the younger hunter. He wanted his sons safe until he could get rid of the threat. But in general that was impossible, he knew that. There were all these supernatural creatures in the world everywhere they went. How do you protect four kids from something that's everywhere? John's solution was to get them trained up so they can defend themselves for those rare moments when they're put into the line of fire. Sam was still a baby, though. He didn't count and John wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. The four year old had three older brothers, a father, and four uncles that were all very protective of him. John held in a chuckle, kid should be lucky he wasn't wrapped in bubble wrap.

~_Innocence Lost~_

Dean in general was worried. It was two-thirty in the morning and they were on the road heading to wherever Caleb was staying. A spirit had gotten into their motel room, past the salt lines he might add, and no one had even noticed it until their dad shot it. He'd been scared to death when he'd heard the shot. Dean's first instinct was to grab Sam and get him safely on the other side of the bed on the floor so they were out of sight. He knew that's what Mark and Andy would be doing at the same time. Imagine his relief when it was just their dad. Then again, their dad shooting in the room probably wasn't a good thing.

Then they'd been ordered to get their belongings and get to the Impala. After Sam had fallen asleep, his dad had explained to them about the ghost.

On top of all that, Sam wasn't telling Dean about his nightmares recently. Dean knew they had to be pretty bad if the kid wasn't even sharing, not that Sam enjoyed sharing his nightmares with his older brother. For the past three or four nights, Sam had actually been waking himself up during the bad dream. That is, if bolting straight up and covered in sweat in bed was waking himself up. Dean would try and coax Sam back into sleeping, but the boy kept his eyes open until he couldn't keep them open anymore. Most times Dean could at least get the younger brother to go back to sleep, but not with these new set of nightmares.

Maybe worried was a bit of an understatement.

**Sorry it's been a bit of a while. For some reason I tried taking this chapter in a couple different directions. But this one was a lot easier to roll with. Hope you like it.**


	6. Chapter 6

**So my friend was having some boyfriend issues (now ex-boyfriend), which is one reason I haven't had much time to work on this story. My other stories the chapters were shorter than I would have wanted and I really want this story to be fan-freakin-tastic. Just watched season 6 ep 6 of SPN. Pretty good.**

Caleb Johnson was actually staying in a small rental house since he was going to be in the area for a while. Livingston, the town he was in, was just full of supernatural creatures, as were the surrounding towns.

The small house had one bedroom, a pathetic bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room.

With a glance at the clock Caleb yawned. It was four in the morning and John Winchester had just left, leaving his four boys with Caleb. Luckily for him, said boys were sleeping at the moment. Caleb Johnson was not the type of guy who answered questions from a curious Sammy and questions from worried and concerned boys named Mark, Andy, and Dean. Caleb stretched his arms and legs slowly before lying back down on the couch; he was letting the four brothers share his bed.

It'd been a bit of a funny sight seeing Mark, Andy, Dean, and Sammy all lie on the same queen sized bed. Mark was at the foot of the bed; Andy at the head; Dean in the middle; and Sam had somehow managed to lay his back on Dean's legs and his feet towards Mark's face.

Closing his eyes, Caleb pulled the small blanket over himself.

_~Innocence Lost~_

"Maybe we should throw some water on him…?"

"He'd probably dunk you in the bath tub, Sammy."

"There isn't a bath tub, Deanie! There's only a shower!"

"I'll just have to toss you in a river, then." Caleb said, his eyes still closed. All four Winchester boys jumped back.

"Hi Uncle Caleb." Sam smiled brightly and gave a small wave to the older hunter. Caleb peeled an eye open and sighed. _Guess they want food,_ he thought to himself.

Pushing himself up and opening his other eye Caleb greeted, "Morning Sammy." He rolled his shoulders and winced at the pain in his back made itself known. This was why he preferred a bed to a couch, but there was no way four boys would fit on the small couch. "What do you guys want for breakfast?"

"Whatever you've got, Caleb." Mark answered for the group as they followed the hunter to the kitchen.

"What _do_ you have?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow at the small kitchen. There was a toaster, an ancient stove, a mini microwave, and a dirty fridge. Andy mentally shrugged, they'd lived in worse.

"Toast. Orange juice." Caleb smiled sheepishly, grabbing the loaf of bread from the counter and starting the process of making toast.

"Toast is good." Dean said, "Butter?"

"In the fridge, Ace."

Dean gave a quick thanks and retrieved the tub of butter from the fridge. He put it on the counter since there wasn't a table in the room. The Winchesters and Caleb talked, laughed, and joked around until everyone had two pieces of buttered toast in their hands. If Caleb had had a heads up that he'd be having temporary house guests, he would have bought paper plates. But the boys didn't seem to mind the inconvenience.

Once breakfast had been taken care of, there came the fact that the four boys needed something to occupy themselves with. Caleb debated on hanging out with the four siblings or doing research for a hunt that he'd been researching for the past two days…it wasn't hard to tell what he settled on.

"Any suggestions for what you guys wanna do?" Caleb questioned, looking at the Winchesters.

"We could play with my toy car." Sam said, "But there's only one so we'd hafta share a lot."

"Or we could go to the park or something…." Dean shrugged. He wasn't that big of a fan of the park, but it would keep his baby brother busy for a little while at least. Plus, the park wasn't _that_ bad. He'd deal with it if it came down to it.

Caleb really didn't want to leave the house in case someone called. Someone who was a father. Someone who was named John Winchester. John'd more than pissed after the last time he'd tried to reach Caleb and he hadn't answered. "How about this," he started off, "we could watch some TV for a while, then after lunch we'll go play outside."

That seemed like a reasonable plan. But when Caleb turned on the television, no one could decide on a channel. Well, more of Andy and Dean couldn't decide on a channel. Sam was too occupied with the toy car he'd mentioned earlier to care about what they watched. And Mark was waiting for his brothers to get distracted so he could make a grab for the remote. When the oldest brother thought it was safe, he reached over and took the remote and changed it to what he wanted to watch. The action went unnoticed for thirty seconds before Andy and Dean banded together and started a wrestling match with their oldest brother.

The hunter shook his head. One minute they were arguing, the next they're goofing off. He was glad he had had a younger sister growing up. Said sister was six years younger than him and knew he'd wrestle her if he didn't get his way. That all changed when they got older and he found it awkward wrestling with a teenage girl.

"Two against one?" Mark said in exasperation as he tried to shiled the remote from his younger brothers.

"Yep!" Dean and Andy told him in unison.

"I'll hold him down, you tickle him." Andy laughed, holding his older brother on the ground. But before Dean could get to work tickling his brother, Mark managed to break Andy's hold over him and get off of the floor.

"Sam I'll give you a cookie if you be on my side!" Mark bargained, tossing the remote to Sam. Sam caught it easily and ran out of the room to the only bedroom, locking the door behind him.

"Smart kid." Caleb chuckled as Andy and Dean followed Sam. Mark on the other hand sat down on the couch and watched the show he'd turned it to. The others hadn't managed to change the channel. "Did you plan on Sam to run?"

Mark smiled, "Nope. Funny how things turn out, though."

"Come on Sammy, open the door!" Andy said, laughing hard. His demand was met with silence. Dean rolled his eyes and pulled something from his pocket. There had been one particular lesson he'd learned from his father that he definitely outmatched the others in: lock picking. Using the tools, Dean managed to pick the lock with little trouble.

When the door was open, the middle brothers hurried inside and began searching for Sam. He wasn't under the covers or in the closet. Which left under the bed the only real place to hide.

Andy held up three fingers and counted down. At the same time both boys fell to the floor and dragged out their youngest brother, who was struggling to get away.

"Okay Sammy, hand it over." Dean said, holding out his hand as he kept one grip on Sam.

Seeing the battle was lost, Sam gave the device to Dean. Andy and Dean released him and led him out of the room and back to the small living room where Caleb and Mark were watching a show, which was changed to another channel when Dean pressed a button.

Several hours later Sam was getting more and more curious to where his father was.

"Caleb where's Daddy?" he asked, sitting on the floor facing the couch where Caleb and Andy were. Mark and Dean were currently rolling around on the floor play-fighting…again. How kids could wrestle so many times Caleb wasn't sure.

"He's workin', Sammy." Caleb answered with the answer Dean had supplied thirty minutes ago.

"When's he comin' back?"

"Dunno, shortie."

"Watch it Caleb, he'll punch you in the shins." Andy elbowed the hunter.

Sam pouted for multiple minutes before leaving the room, toy car in hand, and going into the kitchen so the car would roll easier.

Not too long later Caleb's phone rang. He answered it swiftly, not disappointed to hear from John Winchester. He took the phone to his bedroom and shut the door. He didn't need any ears listening to the conversation right now. If something had been after the brothers, they didn't need to know about it.

_"No one's died in the place before."_ John reported tiredly.

"Not even on the property?" Caleb questioned, trying to help out the older man.

_"No. I've checked three times already, Caleb. There's no reason why a spirit would be here. No one's been murdered or committed suicide or anything like that."_

_ "_Not sure what to tell ya', John." He knew he was going to get so much crap for his next question but he asked it anyway, "Do you think maybe you were just tired? John we both know you don't get much sleep and-"

"_That's not it_." He denied easily.

"Yeah but-"

_"Caleb I wouldn't imagine a spirit touching Sam and causing him pain. And for your information I get enough sleep."_

"Sorry Johnny but-"

"_I know, I know."_ John sighed on the other end of the line, "_How're the boys?"_

"They're fine. Sam's asking about you. And the others aren't asking any questions but I know they're worried."

"_I'm headin' back over to the library, try and dig up some more information on the place. Maybe I missed something. Tell the boys I'll try and call back later."_

Caleb inwardly sighed; he knew John probably wouldn't call until he was finished with the job, no matter how worried his sons got.


	7. Chapter 7

**First off, I'm real sorry this has taken so long to update...no motivation, no inspiration, school, home life, and the fact I lost all the info and ideas I had for this story caused me to give up on it. Then I realized how stupid I was being. Here's the update!**

Dean watched Caleb go into the only bedroom and sighed. He and Mark had given up their wrestling match when the phone had rang. They had figured it was their father, calling to either give an update or tell Caleb he was on his way. When Caleb left the room Dean got to his feet and went into the kitchen.

Sam was leaning against the counter of the little kitchen, his toy car on the counter behind him. The four year old had his head tilted to the side like he was thinking. Dean rolled his eyes, no one thought as much as his brother did.

He noticed Sam shake his head slightly as if he were answering a question, and then the toaster flew from the counter and hit the opposite wall. At teh same time all the cabinets flung open and several glasses and cups that had probably been left by the last owner of the house crashed to the floor or the nearest wall. Dean barely heard Sam scream as he made his way to his baby brother and pulled him under the small kitchen's wooden table.

Shouts were heard from the other room but Dean tuned them out as he focused on Sam. The eight-year old looked his brother over. The worst damage seemed to be at Sam's legs where blood was seeping through his slightly-too-big pajama pants.

"Sammy, you okay?" Dean asked as Mark and Andy entered, Caleb only a couple steps behind them.

"Guys? What the hell happened?" Caleb questioned, stepping into the kitchen. His gun was in his hand instead of in his waistband where it usually was. "No way, go get your shoes on." He ordered when he noticed the older brothers attempt to get past him and to their younger brothers. "We don't need your feet covered in glass." Caleb had already been wearing his boots so the glass was no big deal for him.

Caleb approached the table and bent down, "Come on boys, we need to get outta here." He reached under the table and grabbed Sam around the waist, lifting him up and out from teh table in a quick motion. When Dean made a move to leave Caleb stopped him, "Just hold up, Ace, I don't want you getting cut up either." Dean nodded quickly, eyes following Sam as Caleb carried him to the kitchen door.

After handing the slightly sobbing Sammy to Mark, who now had shoes on, Caleb accepted a large towel from Andy, also wearing a pair of shoes. Caleb laid the towel down so Dean could crawl out. Dean might be eight, but Caleb wouldn't be able to pick the boy up since the table was low and Dean weighed much more than a four year old.

Once everyone was out of the kitchen, Caleb grabbed a can of salt and made a large circle around the couch where Mark had taken his baby brother. Things did not just fall out of cabinets, no something had to have done that.

Sam's sobs had quietened down as Mark worked on clearing away some of the blood.

"I won't be able to get the glass out, Caleb." Mark swallowed when Caleb had finished the circle. "There are some pieces that are too far-"

Caleb cut him off, "I'll go grab the first aid kit, no one leave the circle got it? I swear to God if I come back and anyone's gone I'll carry through on my threat to dunk you in the nearest river." He stepped over the circle carefully, gun still in hand, and made his way to the bathroom where he knew his first aid kit was. Retrieving the kit, he ran back to the boys as fast as he could.

"Should we call Dad?" Dean asked softly, shaking slightly. Caleb nodded and handed his phone to the second youngest Winchester. Dean was a pretty tough kid, but seeing the room shatter with glass with his baby brother still inside didn't help him feel safe at all.

While Caleb grabbed a pair of tweezers from the kit, Dean dialed the last number that had called the phone.

"Yeah?" the tired yet familiar voice of his father answered.

"Dad, it's Dean."

"Dean? What's wrong? WHere's Caleb?"

Dean swallowed again and explained, "Dad...soemthing happened at Caleb's. C-Could you just get here...please?" He blinked his eyes a few times. Crying wasn't cool, not when he was talking to his dad. And since when did he sound so needy? He wasn't a baby. But...the past few minutes had really freaked him out.

"Dean, what happened? Give the phone to Caleb."

"Can't, he's pulling glass out of Sammy's legs." If there was one thing Dean knew it was his father did not like things sugar coated.

"Damn it! I'm on my way, I'll be there in half an hour."

The phone went dead and Dean tossed it on the couch beside Caleb. It was at least an hour drive from Caleb's to their last motel, but Dean knew his dad wasn't lying when he said he'd make the trip in half an hour.

"He said he'd be here in thirty minutes." Dean reported. Caleb was sitting on the couch with Sam's legs on his lap. Sammy was leaning against the couch's arm rest, Andy running a hand through his brown hair. Mark was manning the gun, looking around the room constantly for any sign of whatever had attacked Sam.

Dean sat on the floor, his back against the couch so he was right under Sam. "You doing alright, Sammy?" He felt a slight movement on the couch and figured Sam had either nodded or shook his head. He wasn't sure which so he went down a different route, "Dad'll be here soon."

He heard Sam sniff and Dean looked up. More tears were finding their way down Sam's face.

"H'rts, De." Sam gave anouther loud sniff. Dean got on his knees and turned around to face his brother.

"I know it does Sammy, but Caleb'll be done in a few more minutes." Dean shot Caleb a look, which the man ignored. "Hey, maybe we can talk Andy into letting you have some of his cool glow in the dark band-aids. Huh? Wouldn't that be cool?"

"You too." Sam pointed at Dean's arm. The eight year old looked down to see a small line of red. He hadn't even noticed he'd been cut with something.

It was another ten minutes before anything happened. Dean had been quietly talking to his baby brother, taking Andy's place at Sam's head while the second oldest son helped Mark watch for anything unusual. Caleb was just pulling the last of the glass from Sam when a lamp in the room busted.

"Shit!" Caleb shouted, instinct making him cover his head. "Anyone hit?"

"All clear, Caleb." Mark reported quickly after a glance at each of his brothers.

"I vote we get out of here," Andy suggested.

"I second that notion." Dean muttered, "Are Sam's legs good to go?"

Caleb ran a hand over his face and replied, "They're gonna have to be." He took his gun back from Mark and gently lifted Sam's legs off of his lap. "Mark, carry Sam outside. We'll wrap a shirt or something around his legs when we're in the car. We'll park across the street or something that way we can stop your dad before he walks in half-cocked like we all know he will."

Mark lifted the four year old into his arms, cringing when he heard Sam hiss in pain. "Sorry Sammy," he apologized quietly.

Dean picked up the can of salt Caleb had used to make the circle, it wouldn't do much but if he could throw it at the ghost it might just work or at least cause some sort of damage.

"On three." Caleb said, making eye contact with each of the brothers. As far back as Dean, Andy, and Mark could remember, hunters never went on three. It was an unspoken rule they'd learned over time. In case the spook understood English it was safer-

"One." Caleb counted and immediately everyone took off running. Andy hit the door first and pulled it open while Caleb covered their backs in case whatever showed up. He was almost positive they were dealing with a spirit, the exploding objects and the fact it wouldn't cross the salt all pointed to ghost. Add that to the information John had told him earlier.

They were on the front lawn in no time and in Caleb's two door Mustang before they heard more explosions from the house. Dean and Andy hurried into the back while Mark settled with Sam in the front passneger seat. Caleb climbed into the driver's seat and started the car, pulling out of the driveway and parking a street away. There was only one way into the small subdivision made up of little rental houses so he'd be able to see the Impala from his position.

Caleb pulled his shirt off and ripped it so he had two large pieces. He and Mark managed to get Sam's legs taken care of. Somehow the four year old had drifted into a restless sleep.

**I'm working on the next chapter right now. This definitely took a different turn than I had originally thought, but don't worry...this isn't the climax.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Please excuse any mistakes, I'm still writing on wordpad so no spell check...though I could just use FF's. Oh well. I'm not sure how long this story is going to be, there's **_**at least**_** 2 more chapters that I'm counting on. I've even got plans for a sequel so... :)**

An hour after the incident at Caleb's found John, Caleb, Sam, Dean, Andy, and Mark in a small motel room. Once John had arrived at the house he had been shocked to find a couple windows in the kitchen blown out. He had looked around for Caleb's car and any sign of his sons outside but came up empty. Just before he entered the house, John heard shouting from behind. He ran over to Caleb's car where his sons were with the hunter.

Now at the Brown Owl Motel, the four brothers were sleeping and the adults were going over all the information of the day's events.

"Definitely a spirit." Caleb ran a hand over his face, "I dunno what the kid did but something's followin' him, that's for sure."

"Damn it," John cursed, sending a look at his sleeping sons. Sam was curled into a ball up against his brother Dean who had an arm wrapped around the four year old. Andy was snoring gently beside Mark who had one leg under the covers. The day's events had caught up to the brothers, exhausting all of them. Everyone's wounds had been taken care of.

"Is there anywhere he's been that could have had a spirit hanging around?"

John thought for a moment, "After Jim's we stopped at two motel rooms and then we went to your place. The only out of place thing happened at the second motel room when that spirit kid showed up while the boys were sleeping."

"What were you hunting?" Caleb prompted.

"Shape-shifter that went around killing younger kids."

"And the hunt before that?"

"Werewolf. And before that we were at Jim's-" John replied, starting to get angry. He knew Caleb meant well but he felt like he was being interrogated here.

Caleb interrupted him, "I know that, John, I was there too."

John scrubbed his face with his hand, sighing. "Sorry...it's just...this is Sammy, Caleb, and we've got nothing."

"Has he taken anything from somewhere? Maybe you dragged him into some shop and he picked up some dead kid's crayon."

"No I haven't-wait." John jumped up from his seat and began looking around for something. "The car! Caleb, the car!"

The younger hunter raised an eyebrow, "Which one? Your ride or mine?"

John tore apart his duffel bag, "Not our cars, Johnson! That damn toy Sammy's been clinging to. He told me it was acting weird, moving by itself. I kept watching them both but nothing happened so I chalked it up to his imagination. Damn it!"

"Dad, wha's wrong?" Andy yawned, jerking awake when he heard his father's yelling. The dark haired boy lifted himself up so he was held up by his elbows and his legs were stretched out .

"Nothing, son, go back to sleep." John lowered his voice so he wouldn't wake his other boys. But it was too late, Mark was already peeling open his own eyes. The oldest son sat up so he was against the headboard and gave his father a questioning look. John resisted the urge to roll his eyes and said, "Do either of you know where Sam's toy car is?"

Mark shook his head slightly and Andy replied, "No sir."

"Why? What's so important about it?" Mark asked quietly as his father continued to pull apart his duffel bag.

"It has to be what's connecting everything," John answered, throwing the bag down and going to the motel door. "It's the only connection I know of."

"We found it under one of the beds at the motel." Andy informed the conscious people in the room. "Remember Mark? Didn't Sam say it shocked him or something?"

The ten year old nodded, "Yeah, he said when he touched it it felt like it shocked him...Dad, you don't think that ghost that's been following us is after Sammy do you?" He turned scared eyes to his father, hoping John would provide some sort of assurance.

"God, I hope not." John said before leaving the room and going to Caleb's car, thinking Sam might have brought it with him into the vehicle.

Back inside the motel room, Sam mumbled something in his sleep. Andy and Mark were just about to get up to comfort their baby brother when Dean tightened an arm around him and mumbled something no one could hear. Sam's mumbling stopped and the two fell into a peaceful silence. The oldest brothers shared a quick look and repositioned themselves on the bed they were sharing.

Caleb stood up and opened the motel door to see John going through his car. How he'd gotten the thing unlocked, Caleb could only guess the man had picked the ancient locks of the vehicle. The hunter sighed and shut the door, choosing to watch over the boys instead of tearing apart the car.

When John returned empty handed he announced, "I'm going back to the house. The car's got to be in there somewhere."

"I don't think you should go alone, Johnny." Caleb stated, standing up from his place at a small table in the little motel room. "That ghost kid was pretty sneaky and is definitely majorly pissed from what I could tell. Dunno how I'm going to explain the damage to the landlord next time he decides to pay a visit."

"We'll be okay here, Dad." Mark said, running a hand through his brown hair. "If the ghost is really attached to Sammy's toy then we shouldn't have any problems."

Despite the fact he didn't want to leave his sons alone, John convinced himself to agree with his eldest. Like always he left twenty dollars for an emergency, a couple guns in the room, four cans of salt, a book of exorcisms, and a silver knife with them. He knew his sons would be safe behind the wards he and Caleb had put up the moment they stepped into the room. Plus, his three oldest sons had silver knives of their own.

"If _any_thing at all happens, call." John ordered. Mark and Andy nodded their heads in response and the two adults left the room, heading for Caleb's car.

Their attention was drawn away from the door when Sam stirred behind them from the bed. He opened his eyes, blinking slowly. Sam shifted away from Dean, causing the older boy to wake up.

Dean gazed around in slight confusion before questioning, "Where'd Dad go?"

"Back to Caleb's." Andy returned, taking a seat at the table. This room had no television and since his things were at Caleb's he had nothing better to do than sit around and await the return of the adults.

"To take care of the spi-"

The second youngest Winchester was cut off by Mark who cleared his throat and subtly nodded in Sam's direction. Dean turned his head to his younger brother. Sam was now sitting against the headboard, arms wrapped around his knees and watching his brothers talk. None of the older brothers could recall a time Sam had been so still and quiet at the same time, not even when he slept.

"Hey, Sammy, you okay?" Dean prodded gently moving closer to the four year old. When he received no response, he repeated himself. Sam just looked at him with scared, confused hazel eyes.

Mark decided to take a different approach, "You hungry Tiger?"

The youngest glanced at him before looking back at Dean. Sam began sliding his gaze to each of his brothers before settling on staring at the floral print of the bedspread.

Andy cleared his throat, "Dad left some money, we could order pizza. How does that sound Sammy?" The four year old didn't acknowledge him, just continued to stare down the blanket. Dean waved a hand in front of his baby brother's face, snapping his fingers. The only response he received was a hazel glance.

Without any kind of warning, Sam left the bed and went straight to teh bathroom. He shut the door behind him, all three of his brothers hearing it lock. Dean got up to follow him but Mark shook his head, "Let him be, Dean. We've got no idea what's running through his head right now-"

"Which is why we should help him figure it out!" the eight year old half-shouted, "He's probably freaked and terrified!" Dean pushed past his oldest brother and went to the bathroom door. He leaned his head against the door and knocked gently, "Sammy? It's Dean...can I come in?" When Sam remained quiet Dean said, "Please, Sammy." The unmistakable sound of the lock unlocking had Dean slowly opening the door so he didn't scare his brother. He went inside, leaving the bathroom door open.

Sam had taken a position on the floor next to the door, his back against the wall. The little boy's bandaged legs were stuck out in front of him and he was picking at the bandages.

"Leave those alone, Sammy." Dean whispered, pulling the small hand away from Sam's leg. The younger boy dropped his hand to the floor.

Mark and Andy carefully approached the bathroom. No one understood Sam like Dean did, not even the oldest brothers. Despite the closeness the four of them shared, neither of them could read the youngest like Dean had always been able to do. Even when Sam was a baby Dean always seemed to know what was wrong.

Mark remembered a silent Dean waking up in the middle of the night just seconds before infant Sammy began crying. It was some kind of sixth sense that Dean had been born with or had developed after the fire. He couldn't really remember anything before the fire, Mark had tried to block those memories out a long time ago. The ten year old didn't want to remember his 'normal' years because he knew he'd never get them back. Whatever had killed his mother had made sure of that.

He was pulled from his thoughts when a quiet sniffling came from the bathroom. Looking into the little room, he saw Dean holding Sam who had tears running down his face. One thought ran through his mind: _How the heck are we going to explain all of this to Sammy?_

**As always, reviews welcomed. Another update either this week, this weekend, or early next week.**


	9. Chapter 9

Sam eventually cried himself to sleep. Andy and Dean moved the youngest Winchester to one of the beds in the room so he could sleep better. The older brothers contemplated what to do next.

Their father and Caleb hadn't returned, Sammy was a mess-mentally and physically due to the incident that had happened so recently, and they had no idea what they were supposed to do. Should they explain to Sam about the supernatural? Or should their dad do it?

"I think Dad should handle it," Mark sighed from his position on the floor. He held a shotgun, full of rocksalt, in his lap. Mark sat an angle so he could see his brothers and the front door.

"Dad's not the best with words, though, Mark." Andy countered honestly, "Give the guy a gun and he'll kick anyone's ass-"

"Better not let Dad hear you saying that."

"-but tell him to talk to someone and he'll mess it up."

"We could do it." Mark suggested hesitantly, shooting a glance at Dean who sat on the same bed Sam was sleeping on. "Dean you know Sam better than any of us, he won't completely freak out-"

Dean shook his head, "I'd rather wait for Dad. Maybe he doesn't even want us to tell Sammy-"

"And what exactly do you think he wants us to tell him? Hm?" Andy asked. He stood up from one of the chairs in the room and crossed his arms. "Sam the reason you were hurt was due to your imagination. Really, you weren't injured at all. Let's just pretend it never happened, okay? Yeah, that'll go over so well Dean-o."

The second youngest brother shot Andy a glare, "Shut up, moron. How the hell do you expect me to know everything?"

Mark cut in before Andy could come up with a response, "I think Dean's right, we should just wait for Dad and Caleb. At the least they'll know what to tell Sam. Until then, you two try not to kill each other."

*Supernatural*

John and Caleb arrived at the rental house, ready to charge in and find the toy when Caleb had an idea.

"Instead of risking our asses," he said as he pulled John to the back of Caleb's vehicle. Caleb opened the trunk with his key and pulled out a gas can and a box of matches from his first aid kit. John raised an eyebrow at the match box in the first aid kit but didn't comment. "We could just light the place up."

"It'll take care of the car." John nodded slowly. It was a safe route, burning the toy car so they didn't have to face the angry spirit. John took the gas can from Caleb and began pouring the gas around and on the house, thankful dark was setting in and the neighbor's wouldn't see him.

*Supernatural*

"Hello?" Mark answered the motel phone after it rang two times, stopped, and rang three more times. It was a code John had come up with so his boys would know it really was him calling, as well as the other hunters they were close to.

"It's Bobby, your daddy 'round?" the familiar gruff voice of Bobby Singer said from teh other end.

Mark inwardly smiled, Bobby was a pretty cool guy. He owned a huge car lot and fixed up cars. Plus, he had dogs roaming around all the time. "He and Caleb went to Caleb's house to take care of something."

"The spirit?" Just as Mark was about to ask how Bobby knew the man continued, "He called me yesterday needin' some help. When he gets back tell him to give me a call; I've got some information on the spirit that's been following your brother 'round."

"Good news or bad news?"

"Depends on how you look at it, Mark. Listen, just tell your daddy to give me a call alright?"

"Yes sir."

"Boy, what have I told you about calling me sir? I ain't that old yet!"

Mark chuckled and the two said quick goodbyes.

John and Caleb returned a couple hours after the phone call Bobby had placed. They came in, smelling like smoke and covered in sweat and ash. Mark relayed the information Bobby had given him and told his dad he needed to call Bobby back.

"Thanks, sport." John said with a sad smile, clapping the boy on the shoulder. He looked around the room and found two of his four sons sleeping. Sammy was curled up in a ball, twitching in his sleep, with Dean right beside him. Andy was playing a game of Solitaire on the floor and it looked like Mark had taken a spot on the bed since that was where the shotgun was.

"Did you...ya' know...get things taken care of?" Andy asked, abandoning his game and standing up in front of the two hunters.

Caleb nodded as John grabbed the motel phone, "We burned the place down then searched the kitchen for a couple hours since that's where the attack mainly happened. We weren't attacked and we didn't find that damn toy." He stretched his arms, "I think I'm gonna grab a shower, I'll be right back." Caleb went out to his car and retrieved clothes from his duffel. He returned and went straight for the shower.

The older brothers tuned out John's phone call and Caleb's awful singing from the bathroom, their focus was on Sam and Dean. Only when their father hung up the phone and began packing did they turn their attention to him.

"Dad?" Andy questioned.

"Bobby found a lead on a big time demon," John explained, "Get your things packed and get your brothers up."

"Problem," Mark said, his temper flaring. "Well, more than one problem but let's deal with this one first: we can't leave, Dad. Sammy-"

"Will be fine." John cut him off quickly, "Let him get some sleep, feed him, and some more sleep and he'll be just fine. Probably won't even remember any of this when he wakes up." He looked at his oldest son, "Get your things packed."

Andy cleared his throat, "We don't have any things, they were at Caleb's and since you guys burned the place down..."

"Shit." John half-shouted at his own stupidity. "No big deal, we'll buy you four some more clothes later. Get your brothers up, then. That's an order, not a request Mark." He added on when Mark didn't move.

Mark bit his lip and nodded jerkily, moving to the bed where his brothers were sleeping peacefully. "Dean, Sammy." he shook them both. Dean awoke quickly, Sam a little slower but they were both awake.

"What's so big about this demon?" Andy asked his dad while Mark ushered the younger Winchesters to the car. Dean had sleepily complained but did as he was told while Sam remained quiet, eyes pinned to Dean and following him out.

John hesitated slightly while he wrote a note to Caleb, "It might be the thing that killed your mother." Andy's face paled and he attempted to stutter a response. "Go to the Impala, Andy." The young boy nodded and left quickly.

John ran a hand over his face, already regretting his decision. He shouldn't have burdened Andy with the information. But...at least the boys wouldn't drag their heels, especially since Sam was hurt. Sam was definitely a weak spot for them, hell he was a weak spot for John too. This the first real lead he had on whatever had killed his wife four years ago and John was not going to pass it up. He taped a note explaining to Caleb the situation on the inside of the motel door before grabbing his things and leaving, meeting his sons at the Impala.

**And...finish.**

**Sorry for short chapter.**

**There is definitely going to be a sequel, I don't know when but there will be one. Is this whole incident going to blow over with Sam like John thinks it will? Will the Winchesters discover what killed Mary Winchester? How come Sam could 'feel' the spirit's presence in the toy car when his brothers couldn't? The picture Sam drew at the beginning of the story, does it go deeper than everyone thinks? All these questions and more will be answered in: Innocence Gone.**


End file.
